NGSS 5-ESS3-1 Earth, Human Activity, & the Environment: Air Pollution

5th Grade Science NGSS 5-ESS3-1 Earth, Human Activity, & the Environment: Air Pollution at the Olympics is a 5E Lesson Plan that draws students in by using the 1980 Olympics air pollution problem as basis to teach how we use science to solve environmental problems. This plan also incorporates the National Research Council’s three-dimensional learning process of using practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas into its makeup.

In this lesson, students will learn how the EPA measures air quality and then look up air quality in cities across the globe and near their homes. They will do experiments to demonstrate the ability of static electricity to collect particles, and then learn how engineers apply that science on a large scale to greatly reduce one type of pollution.

This unit is for 5th grade NGSS Performance Expectation 5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment. Note that the focus of this lesson is on how the science of static electricity can be applies to protect the environment

This lesson uses the 5E Lesson Plan process

The 5E steps are:

Engage: Students watch a PowerPoint presentation with a video link on the environmental conditions surrounding the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China

Explore: Three Explore activities are provided.

Explore 1 – Air Quality - Students look up air quality levels in cities across the globe and near their homes. A list of cities is provided with an answer key

Explore 2 – Static Electricity with Balloons-Students use balloons to capture particles with static electricity. Both student and teacher instructions are included

Explore 3 – Static Electricity Capture with a plastic Pipe Students charge a plastic pipe to collect particles using static electricity. Student and Teacher instructions included

Explain: Students fill in an interactive handout while watching a PowerPoint presentation on the cause of the 2008 Olympics pollution and what engineers have done to address those problems and what technology is available to solve problems like that.

Elaborate: Students watch a demonstration video on how to build a small electrostatic precipitator. A set of questions on the video is provided and an answer key

For those classes which have access to the equipment and materials, the precipitator can be constructed as a project.

Evaluation: In this step, Students write a report on what they learned in this lesson. A suggested rubric has also been provided for this exercise.

Detailed Teacher notes have been provided to cover all aspects of this unit and the Essay instructions.

This Product also supports the following Common Core Standards:

ELA/Literacy

RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. (5-ESS3-1)

W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

3 Dimensional Learning

This lesson also Incorporates the National Research Council’s three-dimensional learning process. Details are provided in the teachers notes.

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Note: Next Generation Science Standards is a registered trademark of Achieve. Neither Achieve nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.”